Standing Athwart History, Yelling "Slop!" (w/ John Ganz) [Teaser]

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. (patreon.com/posts/107982813?utm_campaign=posts…)

On Monday, Manhattan Institute fellow Chris Rufo posted this: "The Right's collective brain is getting melted in a vat of slop, conspiracy, and algorithm-chasing. An intelligent man will guard himself against all of it." Given that Rufo was, after J.D. Vance, perhaps the most prominent Haitians-are-eating-pets-in-Ohio conspiracy theorist in the country, his complaint generated many, many responses rightfully calling him out for his lack of self-awareness and his own role in mainstreaming such a politics. As our friend John Ganz wrote (unpopularfront.news/p/i-told-you-so?utm_campai…), "Is this hypocrisy, stupidity, or unabashed malevolence? Try all three: it’s politics. Specifically, it’s the politics of the American Conservative Movement. People cry out for a new William F. Buckley. Give the title to Rufo, I say; he’s doing the job already."

In this episode we talked to Ganz about how the dynamic Rufo identified has always been a feature of the postwar conservative movement, stretching back at least to William F. Buckley, Jr. and Brent Bozell's defense of McCarthyism; what's distinctive about the Right's present slop era, especially the alignment of conservative movement propagandists, the Republican Party, and the state; populism and the "Madisonian model"; and more!

Sources:

John Ganz, "I Told You So... (open.substack.com/pub/johnganz/p/i-told-you-so…)" Unpopular Front, Feb 24, 2026

— "Finding Neverland: The American right’s doomed quest to rid itself of Trumpism (newrepublic.com/article/156368/finding-neverla…)," New Republic, Feb 17, 2020

Olivia Bellusci, "Candace Owens Drops Trailer for Investigative Series About Erika Kirk Months After Charlie’s Death (yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/can…)," Yahoo, Feb 24, 2026

Matthew Sitman, "Riding the Trump Tiger (commonwealmagazine.org/riding-trump-tiger)," Commonweal, Aug 7, 2015

Nathan Taylor Pemberton, "Is ‘Slopulism’ Shaping Our Politics? (nytimes.com/interactive/2026/02/13/style/slopu…)" New York Times, Feb 13, 2026

Ruby Cramer, "You Don't Know Bernie Sanders (buzzfeednews.com/article/rubycramer/you-dont-k…)," Buzzfeed, Dec 16, 2019.

Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word (monoskop.org/images/d/db/Ong_Walter_J_Orality_…), (1982)